Mac buying decision - Power and rendering time

[nykee23]

Hi Everyone,

I'm close to making my final decision on a Mac system to replace my 10 year old Windows machine. I already have my HV20, but haven't used it yet. I intend to shoot around 6 hours of total footage in 60i high definition. I'm really wary of really long rendering times on the final 1.5 hour edit that will eventually be put on DVD. I'm hopefully going to process the footage through Imovie 08, since I would need alot of time to learn FCP Studio and I have a short time line. This is a cost vs. performance decision. Trying to get the most bang for the buck without major speed penalty.

This is my ideas:

Mac Pro 2.8 dual quad core, 8 gb ram, an additional 750 gig drive, 23" ACD - This is the most expensive, yet hopefully fastest processing solution.

Macbook Pro - Dual core 2.5, 4 gb ram, external FW800 drive, high def 17" screen - great portable solution, about $1k less than the Mac Pro, but probably really long rendering and processing times.

Imac dual core 3.0 - 24" - 4 gb ram, 1 TB drive with the 8800 GS video card - Similar to the Macbook Pro, but bigger screen, maybe a bit faster, but not sure.

Would appreciate your ideas on this major investment.

Thanks.

 

[dalvin200]

i'd say if you can afford it, go with the mac pro..
plus mac pro's can easily be upgraded too...

if portability is an issue, then MBP or even a macbook + iMac solution..

the macbooks can easily run imovie 08 and also capable of processing HD video in 1080i

 

[SmurfBoxMasta]

If s p e e e e d is your goal, & iMovie is multi-processor aware
(I believe it is) then the Mac Pro w/8GB Ram would obviously smoke any of the other machines you listed........ with the iMac a close second

why ?

because editing & rendering video in real time is extremely CPU & ram intensive !

If you plan on doing this type of stuff on a regular basis, you might as well make the investment in the right equipment........it WILL pay off in the long run 4 sure

ps.....In 20+ years of using computers, I have yet to find any laptop that could honestly compete with a similarly spec'd desktop in terms of speeed and efficiency

 

[Eric.]

i'd say if you can afford it, go with the mac pro..
plus mac pro's can easily be upgraded too...

if portability is an issue, then MBP or even a macbook + iMac solution..

the macbooks can easily run imovie 08 and also capable of processing HD video in 1080i

I agree, the Mac Pro is the obvious solution if money isn't the issue. You can save some money by getting RAM somewhere else (well, I'm honestly not sure if FB-DIMMS can be had much cheaper anywhere) and maybe getting some other monitor other than the Cinema.

 

[nykee23]

Yeah, that Mac Pro would really extend me

Thanks for your feedback guys. I have like $2K down in cash, but I know with my tiny discount the Mac Pro and ACD will be like $3,900, then RAM and and extra hard drive is like another $500. This will be painful, but I know I'm keeping my system for along time and I'm afraid of obsolescence. With the IMAC and Macbook running dual cores it may be really slow. Especially with Snow Leopard coming out with more multi core optimization.

This will hurt, but it's a necessary evil. Power = more money. Whew.